element, type this:
+
+@TwitterGoodies.
+
+The @ character is the same character you've been using to mark Razor code. TwitterGoodies is
+the helper object that you're working with.
+
+As soon as you type the period (.), WebMatrix displays a list of methods (functions) that the
+TwitterGoodies helper makes available:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 2: Programming Basics
+
+34
+
+
+
+ This feature is known as IntelliSense. It helps you code by providing context-appropriate choices.
+IntelliSense works with HTML, CSS, ASP.NET code, JavaScript, and other languages that are
+supported in WebMatrix. It's another feature that makes it easier to develop web pages in
+WebMatrix.
+
+Press S on the keyboard, and you see that IntelliSense finds the Search method:
+
+Press Tab. IntelliSense inserts the selected method (Search) for you. Type an open parenthesis ( (
+), then the string "webmatrix" in quotation marks, then a closing parenthesis ( ) ). When you're
+done, the line looks like this:
+
+@TwitterGoodies.Search("webmatrix")
+
+The Search method finds tweets that contain the string that you specify — in this case, it will look
+for tweets that mention "webmatrix". (Either in text or in hashtags.)
+
+Run the page. You see a Twitter feed. (It might take a few moments for the feed to start
+populating.)
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 2: Programming Basics
+
+35
+
+
+ To get an idea of what the helper is doing for you, view the source of the page in the
+browser.Along with the HTML that you had in your page, you see a block of JavaScript code that
+looks roughly like the following block. (It might be all on one line or otherwise compressed.)
+
+
+
+This is code that the helper rendered into the page at the place where you had
+@TwitterGoodies.Search. (There's also some markup that's not shown here.) The helper took the
+information you provided and generated the code that talks directly to Twitter in order to get
+back the Twitter feed that you see. If you know the Twitter programming interface (API), you can
+create this code yourself. But because the helper can do it for you, you don't have to know the
+details of how to communicate with Twitter. And even if you are familiar with the Twitter API, it's
+a lot easier to include the TwitterGoodies helper on the page and let it do the work.
+
+Return to the page. At the bottom, inside the element, add the following code. Substitute
+your own Twitter account name if you have one.
+
+
+
+Again, you could have written this code yourself, but the helper makes it much easier.
+
+Server-Side (Razor) and Client-Side (JavaScript) Programming
+
+How does Razor code in an ASP.NET Web Pages relate to JavaScript code that runs in the
+browser? If you've got experience with JavaScript, you might realize as you work with these
+tutorials that many of the tasks could also be done in JavaScript. That's true, especially with the
+simple examples you've seen so far.
+
+A .cshtml page can contain both Razor code and JavaScript code. The traditional division of labor
+has been that server code handled tasks that it made sense to run on the server. This included
+accessing resources like a shared database and performing various types of business logic. In
+contrast, client code has typically been used to create a rich user experience. Pop-up calendars,
+sliders, animations, and many other UI effects are created by client code, and can all be done
+easily using JavaScript libraries (especially jQuery).
+
+These days the distinction has blurred a little because client code libraries now let you
+communicate with the server in ways that formerly could only be done in server code. In general,
+though, it's still useful to think of server code (Razor and C#) as being for back-end work and client
+code (JavaScript) as useful for UI. In subsequent tutorial sets you'll learn how to integrate
+JavaScript into a .cshtml page for just this purpose, namely to create a lively user experience.
+
+Coming Up Next
+
+To keep this tutorial short, we had to focus on only a few basics. Naturally, there's a lot more to
+Razor and C#. You'll learn more as you go through these tutorials. If you're interested in learning
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 2: Programming Basics
+
+37
+
+
+ more about the programming aspects of Razor and C# right now, you can read a more thorough
+introduction here:Introduction to ASP.NET Web Programming Using the Razor Syntax.
+
+The next tutorial introduces you to working with a database. In that tutorial, you'll begin creating
+the sample application that lets you list your favorite movies.
+
+Additional Resources
+
+• Complete Listing for Test Razor Page
+• Complete Listing for TestRazorPart2 Page
+• Complete Listing for TwitterTest Page
+•
+
+Introduction to ASP.NET Web Programming Using the Razor Syntax
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 2: Programming Basics
+
+38
+
+ Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+This tutorial shows you how to create a database in WebMatrix and how to display database data
+in a page when you use ASP.NET Web Pages (Razor).
+
+What you'll learn:
+
+• How to use WebMatrix tools to create a database and database tables.
+• How to use WebMatrix tools to add data to a database.
+• How to display data from the database on a page.
+• How to run SQL commands in ASP.NET Web Pages.
+• How to customize the WebGrid helper to change the data display and to add paging and
+
+sorting.
+
+Features/technologies discussed:
+
+• WebMatrix database tools.
+•
+
+WebGrid helper.
+
+What You'll Build
+
+In the previous tutorial, you were introduced to ASP.NET Web Pages (.cshtml files), to the basics
+of Razor syntax, and to helpers. In this tutorial, you'll begin creating the actual web application
+that you'll use for the rest of the series. The app is a simple movie application that lets you view,
+add, change, and delete information about movies.
+
+When you're done with this tutorial, you'll be able to view a movie listing that looks like this page:
+
+But to begin, you have to create a database.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+39
+
+
+ A Very Brief Introduction to Databases
+
+This tutorial will provide only the briefest introduction to databases. If you have database
+experience, you can skip this short section.
+
+A database contains one or more tables that contain information — for example, tables for
+customers, orders, and vendors,or for students, teachers, classes, and grades. Structurally, a
+database table is like a spreadsheet. Imagine a typical address book. For each entry in the address
+book (that is, for each person) you have several pieces of information such as first name, last
+name, address, email address, and phone number.
+
+(Rows are sometimes referred to as records, and columns are sometimes referred to as fields.)
+
+For most database tables, the table has to have a column that contains a unique value, like a
+customer number, account number, and so on. This value is known as the table's primary key, and
+you use it to identify each row in the table. In the example, the ID column is the primary key for
+the address book shown in the previous example.
+
+Much of the work you do in web applications consists of reading information out of the database
+and displaying it on a page. You'll also often gather information from users and add it to a
+database, or you'll modify records that are already in the database. (We'll cover all of these
+operations in the course of this tutorial set.)
+
+Database work can be enormously complex and can require specialized knowledge. For this
+tutorial set, though, you have to understand only basic concepts, which will all be explained as
+you go.
+
+Creating a Database
+
+WebMatrix includes tools that make it easy to create (or define) a database and to create tables in
+the database. For this tutorial set, you'll create a database that has only one table in it — Movies.
+
+Open WebMatrix if you haven't already done so, and open the WebPagesMovies site that you
+created in the previous tutorial.
+
+In the left pane, click the Database workspace.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+40
+
+
+ The ribbon changes to show database-related tasks. In the ribbon, click New Database.
+
+WebMatrix creates a database (an .sdf file) that has the same name as your site —
+WebPagesMovies.sdf. (You won't do this here, but you can rename the file to anything you like, as
+long as it has an .sdf extension.)
+
+Creating a Table
+
+In the ribbon, click New Table. WebMatrix opens the table designer in a new tab. (If the New
+Table option isn't available, make sure that the new database is selected in the tree view on the
+left.)
+
+In the text box at the top (where the watermark says "Enter table name"), enter "Movies".
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+41
+
+
+
+
+ The pane underneath the table name is where you define individual columns. For the Movies
+table in this tutorial, you'll create only a few columns: ID, Title, Genre, and Year.
+
+In the Name box, enter "ID". Entering a value here activates all the controls for the new column.
+
+Tab to the Data Type list and choose int. This value specifies that the ID column will contain
+integer (number) data.
+
+Note We won't call it out any more here (much), but you can use standard Windows
+keyboard gestures to navigate in this grid. For example, you can tab between fields, you
+can just start typing in order to select an item in a list, and so on.
+
+Tab past the Default Value box (that is, leave it blank). Tab to the Is Primary Key check box and
+select it. This option tells the database that the ID column will contain the data that identifies
+individual rows. (That is, each row will have a unique value in the ID column that you can use to
+find that row.)
+
+Choose the Is Identity option. This option tells the database that it should automatically generate
+the next sequential number for each new row. (The Is Identity option works only if you've also
+selected the Is Primary Key option.)
+
+Click in the next grid row, or press Tab twice to finish the current row. Either gesture saves the
+current row and starts the next one. Notice that the Default Value column now says Null. (Null is
+the default value for the default value, so to speak.)
+
+When you've finished defining the new ID column, the designer will look like this illustration:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+42
+
+
+ To create the next column, click in the box in the Name column. Enter "Title" for the column and
+then select nvarchar for the Data Type value. The "var" part of nvarchar tells the database that
+the data for this column will be a string whose size might vary from record to record. (The "n"
+prefix represents "national," which indicates that the field can hold character data for any
+alphabet or writing system — that is, the field holds Unicode data.)
+
+When you choose nvarchar, another box appears where you can enter the maximum length for
+the field. Enter 50, on the assumption that no movie title that you'll work with in this tutorial will
+be longer than 50 characters.
+
+Skip Default Value and clear the Allow Nulls option. You don't want the database to allow any
+movies to be entered into the database that don't have a title.
+
+When you're done and move to the next row, the designer looks like this illustration:
+
+Repeat these steps to create a column named "Genre", except for the length, set it to just 30.
+
+Create another column named "Year." For the data type, choose nchar (not nvarchar) and set the
+length to 4. For the year, you're going to use a 4-digit number like "1995" or "2010", so you don't
+require a variable-sized column.
+
+Here's what the finished design looks like:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+43
+
+
+
+
+ Press Ctrl+S or click the Save button in the Quick Access toolbar. Close the database designer by
+closing the tab.
+
+Adding Some Example Data
+
+Later in this tutorial series you'll create a page where you can enter new movies in a form. For
+now, however, you can add some example data that you can then display on a page.
+
+In the Database workspace in WebMatrix, notice that there's a tree that shows you the .sdf file
+you created earlier. Open the node for your new .sdf file, and then open the Tables node.
+
+Right-click the Movies node and then choose Data. WebMatrix opens a grid where you can enter
+data for the Movies table:
+
+Click the Title column and enter "When Harry Met Sally". Move to the Genre column (you can use
+the Tab key) and enter "Romantic Comedy". Move to the Year column and enter "1989":
+
+Press Enter, and WebMatrix saves the new movie. Notice that the ID column has been filled in.
+
+Enter another movie (for example, "Gone with the Wind", "Drama", "1939"). The ID column is
+filled in again:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+44
+
+
+
+
+
+ Enter a third movie (for example, "Ghostbusters", "Comedy"). As an experiment, leave the Year
+column blank and then press Enter. Because you unselected the Allow Nulls option, the database
+shows an error:
+
+Click OK to go back and fix the entry (the year for "Ghostbusters" is 1984), and then press Enter.
+
+Fill in several movies until you have 8 or so. (Entering 8 makes it easier to work with paging later.
+But if that's too many, enter just a few for now.) The actual data doesn't matter.
+
+If you entered all the movies without any errors, the ID values are sequential. If you tried to save
+an incomplete movie record, the ID numbers might not be sequential. If so, that's okay. The
+numbers don't have any inherent meaning, and the only thing that's important is that they're
+unique in the Movies table.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+45
+
+
+
+
+ Close the tab that contains the database designer.
+
+Now you can turn to displaying this data on a web page.
+
+Adding the Web Data Package
+
+You access data in ASP.NET Web Pages sites using helpers that are available in the WebData
+package. Because you used the Empty Site template in WebMatrix to create your Movies site, the
+WebData package isn't automatically included. Therefore, you have to add the package to your
+site.
+
+In the left pane, click the Files workspace.
+
+In the ribbon, click the Gallery button.
+
+The NuGet Gallery is displayed.
+
+In the search box, enter "Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages.WebData" to narrow down the list of
+packages that are displayed.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+46
+
+
+
+ Select the Microsoft ASP.NET Web Pages 2 Web Data package and then click Install.
+
+The Gallery page displays details about the package.
+
+Click Install. After you accept the license, WebMatrix installs the Web Data package.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+47
+
+
+
+ Now you're ready to display data on a page.
+
+Displaying Data in a Page by Using the WebGrid Helper
+
+To display data in a page, you're going to use the WebGrid helper. This helper produces a display in
+a grid or table (rows and columns). As you'll see, you'll be able refine the grid with formatting and
+other features.
+
+To run the grid, you'll have to write a few lines of code. These few lines will serve as a kind of
+pattern for almost all of the data access that you do in this tutorial.
+
+Note You actually have many options for displaying data on a page; the WebGrid helper is
+just one. We chose it for this tutorial because it's the easiest way to display data and
+because it's reasonably flexible. In the next tutorial set, you'll see how to use a more
+"manual" way to work with data in the page, which gives you more direct control over how
+to display the data.
+
+In the left pane in WebMatrix, click the Files workspace. In the tree view, select the root of the
+website.
+
+The new database you created is in the App_Data folder. If the folder didn't already exist,
+WebMatrix created it for your new database. (The folder might have existed if you'd previously
+installed helpers.)
+
+In the ribbon, click New. In the Choose a File Type box, choose CSHTML.
+
+In the Name box, name the new page "Movies.cshtml":
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+48
+
+ Click the OK button. WebMatrix opens a new file with some skeleton elements in it. First you'll
+write some code to go get the data from the database. Then you'll add markup to the page to
+actually display the data.
+
+Writing the Data Query Code
+
+At the top of the page, between the @{ and } characters, enter the following code. (Make sure
+that you enter this code between the opening and closing braces.)
+
+var db = Database.Open("WebPagesMovies");
+var selectedData = db.Query("SELECT * FROM Movies");
+var grid = new WebGrid(source: selectedData);
+
+The first line opens the database that you created earlier, which is always the first step before
+doing something with the database. You tell the Database.Open method name of the database to
+open. Notice that you don't include .sdf in the name. The Open method assumes that it's looking
+for an .sdf file (that is, WebPagesMovies.sdf) and that the .sdf file is in the App_Data folder.
+(Earlier we noted that the App_Data folder is reserved; this scenario is one of the places where
+ASP.NET makes assumptions about that name.)
+
+When the database is opened, a reference to it is put into the variable named db. (Which could be
+named anything.) The db variable is how you'll end up interacting with the database.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+49
+
+
+ The second line actually fetches the database data by using the Query method. Notice how this
+code works: the db variable has a reference to the opened database, and you invoke the Query
+method by using the db variable (db.Query).
+
+Thequery itself is a SQL Select statement. (For a little background about SQL, see the explanation
+later.) In the statement, Movies identifies the table to query. The * character specifies that the
+query should return all the columns from the table. (You could also list columns individually,
+separated by commas.)
+
+The results of the query, if any, are returned and made available in the selectedData variable.
+Again, the variable could be named anything.
+
+Finally, the third line tells ASP.NET that you want to use an instance of the WebGrid helper. You
+create (instantiate) the helper object by using the new keyword and pass it the query results via
+the selectedData variable. The new WebGrid object, along with the results of the database query,
+are made available in the grid variable. You'll need that result in a moment to actually display the
+data in the page.
+
+At this stage, the database has been opened, you've gotten the data you want, and you've
+prepared the WebGrid helper with that data. Next is to create the markup in the page.
+
+Structured Query Language (SQL)
+
+SQL is a language that's used in most relational databases for managing data in a database. It
+includes commands that let you retrieve data and update it, and that let you create, modify, and
+manage data in database tables. SQL is different than a programming language (like C#). With
+SQL, you tell the database what you want, and it's the database's job to figure out how to get the
+data or perform the task. Here are examples of some SQL commands and what they do:
+
+Select * From Movies
+
+SELECT ID, Name, Price FROM Product WHERE Price > 10.00 ORDER BY Name
+
+The first Select statement gets all the columns (specified by *) from the Movies table.
+
+The second Select statement fetches the ID, Name, and Price columns from records in the
+Product table whose Price column value is more than 10. The command returns the results in
+alphabetical order based on the values of the Name column. If no records match the price criteria,
+the command returns an empty set.
+
+INSERT INTO Product (Name, Description, Price) VALUES ('Croissant', 'A flaky delight',
+1.99)
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+50
+
+ This command inserts a new record into the Product table, setting the Name column to
+"Croissant", the Description column to "A flaky delight", and the price to 1.99.
+
+Notice that when you're specifying a non-numeric value, the value is enclosed in single quotation
+marks (not double quotation marks, as in C#). You use these quotation marks around text or date
+values, but not around numbers.
+
+DELETE FROM Product WHERE ExpirationDate < '01/01/2008'
+
+This command deletes records in the Product table whose expiration date column is earlier than
+January 1, 2008. (The command assumes that the Product table has such a column, of course.)
+The date is entered here in MM/DD/YYYY format, but it should be entered in the format that's
+used for your locale.
+
+The Insert and Delete commands don’t return result sets. Instead, they return a number that
+tells you how many records were affected by the command.
+
+For some of these operations (like inserting and deleting records), the process that's requesting
+the operation has to have appropriate permissions in the database. That's why for production
+databases you often have to supply a user name and password when you connect to the
+database.
+
+There are dozens of SQL commands, but they all follow a pattern like the commands you see
+here. You can use SQL commands to create database tables, count the number of records in a
+table, calculate prices, and perform many more operations.
+
+Adding Markup to Display the Data
+
+Inside the element, set contents of the element to "Movies":
+
+<head>
+<meta charset="utf-8" />
+<title>Movies
+
+
+Inside the element of the page, add the following:
+
+ element. (If you want, you can verify the
+rendering by looking at the source of the page in the browser.)
+
+Modifying the Look of the Grid
+
+Using the WebGrid helper like you just did is easy, but the resulting display is plain. The WebGrid
+helper has all sorts of options that let you control how the data is displayed. There are far too
+many to explore in this tutorial, but this section will give you an idea of some of those options. A
+few additional options will be covered in later tutorials in this series.
+
+Specifying Individual Columns to Display
+
+To start, you can specify that you want to display only certain columns. By default, as you've seen,
+the grid shows all four of the columns from the Movies table.
+
+In the Movies.cshtml file, replace the @grid.GetHtml() markup that you just added with the
+following:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+52
+
+
+
+
+ @grid.GetHtml(
+ columns: grid.Columns(
+ grid.Column("Title"),
+ grid.Column("Genre"),
+ grid.Column("Year")
+ )
+)
+
+To tell the helper which columns to display, you include a columns parameter for the GetHtml
+method and pass in a collection of columns. In the collection, you specify each column to include.
+You specify an individual column to display by including a grid.Column object, and pass in the
+name of the data column you want. (These columns must be included in the SQL query results —
+the WebGrid helper cannot display columns that were not returned by the query.)
+
+Launch the Movies.cshtml page in the browser again, and this time you get a display like the
+following one (notice that no ID column is displayed):
+
+Changing the Look of the Grid
+
+There are quite a few more options for displaying columns, some of which will be explored in later
+tutorials in this set. For now, this section will introduce you to ways in which you can style the grid
+as a whole.
+
+Inside the section of the page, just before the closing tag, add the following
+
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+53
+
+
+ This CSS markup defines classes named grid, head, and so on. You could also put these style
+definitions in a separate .css file and link that to the page. (In fact,you'll do that later in this
+tutorial set.) But to make things easy for this tutorial, they're inside the same page that displays
+the data.
+
+Now you can get the WebGrid helper to use these style classes. The helper has a number of
+properties (for example, tableStyle) for just this purpose — you assign a CSS style class name to
+them, and that class name is rendered as part of the markup that's rendered by the helper.
+
+Change the grid.GetHtml markup so that it now looks like this code:
+
+@grid.GetHtml(
+ tableStyle: "grid",
+ headerStyle: "head",
+ alternatingRowStyle: "alt",
+ columns: grid.Columns(
+ grid.Column("Title"),
+ grid.Column("Genre"),
+ grid.Column("Year")
+ )
+)
+
+What's new here is that you've added tableStyle, headerStyle, and alternatingRowStyle
+parameters to the GetHtml method. These parameters have been set to the names of the CSS
+styles that you added a moment ago.
+
+Run the page, and this time you see a grid that looks much less plain than before:
+
+To see what the GetHtml method generated, you can look at the source of the page in the
+browser. We won't go into detail here, but the important point is that by specifying parameters
+like tableStyle, you caused the grid to generate HTML tags like the following:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+54
+
+
+
+
+The tag has had a class attribute added to it that references one of the CSS rules that you
+added earlier. This code shows you the basic pattern — different parameters for the GetHtml
+method let you reference CSS classes that the method then generates along with the markup.
+What you do with the CSS classes is up to you.
+
+Adding Paging
+
+As the last task for this tutorial, you'll add paging to the grid. Right now it's no problem to display
+all your movies at once. But if you added hundreds of movies, the page display would get long.
+
+In the page code, change the line that creates the WebGrid object to the following code:
+
+var grid = new WebGrid(source: selectedData, rowsPerPage: 3);
+
+The only difference from before is that you've added a rowsPerPage parameter that's set to 3.
+
+Run the page. The grid displays 3 rows at a time, plus navigation links that let you page through
+the movies in your database:
+
+Coming Up Next
+
+In the next tutorial, you'll learn how to use Razor and C# code to get user input in a form. You'll
+add a search box to the Movies page so that you can find movies by title or genre.
+
+Additional Resources
+
+• Complete Listing for Movies Page
+•
+
+Introduction to ASP.NET Web Programming Using the Razor Syntax
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+55
+
+
+
+
+ Tutorial 4: HTML Form Basics
+
+This tutorial shows you the basics of how to create an input form and how to handle the user's
+input when you use ASP.NET Web Pages (Razor). And now that you've got a database, you'll use
+your form skills to let users find specific movies in the database.
+
+What you'll learn:
+
+• How to create a form by using standard HTML elements.
+• How to read the user's input in a form.
+• How to create a SQL query that selectively gets data by using a search term that the user
+
+supplies.
+
+• How to have fields in the page "remember" what the user entered.
+
+Features/technologies discussed:
+
+• The Request object.
+• The SQL Where clause.
+
+What You'll Build
+
+In the previous tutorial, you created a database, added data to it, and then used the WebGrid
+helper to display the data. In this tutorial,you'll add a search box that lets you find movies of a
+specific genre or whose title contains whatever word you enter. (For example, you'll be able to
+find all movies whose genre is "Action" or whose title contains "Harry" or "Adventure.")
+
+When you're done with this tutorial, you'll have a page like this one:
+
+The listing part of the page is the same as in the last tutorial — a grid. The difference will be that
+the grid will show only the movies that you searched for.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 4: HTML Form Basics
+
+56
+
+
+ About HTML Forms
+
+(If you've got experience with creating HTML forms and with the difference between GET and
+POST, you can skip this section.)
+
+A form has user input elements — text boxes, buttons, radio buttons, check boxes, drop-down
+lists, and so on. Users fill in these controls or make selections and then submit the form by clicking
+a button.
+
+The basic HTML syntax of a form is illustrated by this example:
+
+
+
+When this markup runs in a page, it creates a simple form that looks like this illustration:
+
+The
+ @TwitterGoodies.FollowButton("microsoft")
+
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 2: Programming Basics
+
+36
+
+
+ This code calls the FollowButton method of the TwitterGoodies helper. As you can guess, the
+method adds a Follow Me on Twitter button. You pass a Twitter name to this method to indicate
+who to follow.
+
+Run the page and you see the Follow Me button:
+
+Click it, and you go to the Twitter page for the user you specified.
+
+As before, you can look at the source of the page in the browser to see what the Twitter helper
+generated for you. This time the code looks something like the following example:
+
+
+
+Again, you could have written this code yourself, but the helper makes it much easier.
+
+Server-Side (Razor) and Client-Side (JavaScript) Programming
+
+How does Razor code in an ASP.NET Web Pages relate to JavaScript code that runs in the
+browser? If you've got experience with JavaScript, you might realize as you work with these
+tutorials that many of the tasks could also be done in JavaScript. That's true, especially with the
+simple examples you've seen so far.
+
+A .cshtml page can contain both Razor code and JavaScript code. The traditional division of labor
+has been that server code handled tasks that it made sense to run on the server. This included
+accessing resources like a shared database and performing various types of business logic. In
+contrast, client code has typically been used to create a rich user experience. Pop-up calendars,
+sliders, animations, and many other UI effects are created by client code, and can all be done
+easily using JavaScript libraries (especially jQuery).
+
+These days the distinction has blurred a little because client code libraries now let you
+communicate with the server in ways that formerly could only be done in server code. In general,
+though, it's still useful to think of server code (Razor and C#) as being for back-end work and client
+code (JavaScript) as useful for UI. In subsequent tutorial sets you'll learn how to integrate
+JavaScript into a .cshtml page for just this purpose, namely to create a lively user experience.
+
+Coming Up Next
+
+To keep this tutorial short, we had to focus on only a few basics. Naturally, there's a lot more to
+Razor and C#. You'll learn more as you go through these tutorials. If you're interested in learning
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 2: Programming Basics
+
+37
+
+
+ more about the programming aspects of Razor and C# right now, you can read a more thorough
+introduction here:Introduction to ASP.NET Web Programming Using the Razor Syntax.
+
+The next tutorial introduces you to working with a database. In that tutorial, you'll begin creating
+the sample application that lets you list your favorite movies.
+
+Additional Resources
+
+• Complete Listing for Test Razor Page
+• Complete Listing for TestRazorPart2 Page
+• Complete Listing for TwitterTest Page
+•
+
+Introduction to ASP.NET Web Programming Using the Razor Syntax
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 2: Programming Basics
+
+38
+
+ Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+This tutorial shows you how to create a database in WebMatrix and how to display database data
+in a page when you use ASP.NET Web Pages (Razor).
+
+What you'll learn:
+
+• How to use WebMatrix tools to create a database and database tables.
+• How to use WebMatrix tools to add data to a database.
+• How to display data from the database on a page.
+• How to run SQL commands in ASP.NET Web Pages.
+• How to customize the WebGrid helper to change the data display and to add paging and
+
+sorting.
+
+Features/technologies discussed:
+
+• WebMatrix database tools.
+•
+
+WebGrid helper.
+
+What You'll Build
+
+In the previous tutorial, you were introduced to ASP.NET Web Pages (.cshtml files), to the basics
+of Razor syntax, and to helpers. In this tutorial, you'll begin creating the actual web application
+that you'll use for the rest of the series. The app is a simple movie application that lets you view,
+add, change, and delete information about movies.
+
+When you're done with this tutorial, you'll be able to view a movie listing that looks like this page:
+
+But to begin, you have to create a database.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+39
+
+
+ A Very Brief Introduction to Databases
+
+This tutorial will provide only the briefest introduction to databases. If you have database
+experience, you can skip this short section.
+
+A database contains one or more tables that contain information — for example, tables for
+customers, orders, and vendors,or for students, teachers, classes, and grades. Structurally, a
+database table is like a spreadsheet. Imagine a typical address book. For each entry in the address
+book (that is, for each person) you have several pieces of information such as first name, last
+name, address, email address, and phone number.
+
+(Rows are sometimes referred to as records, and columns are sometimes referred to as fields.)
+
+For most database tables, the table has to have a column that contains a unique value, like a
+customer number, account number, and so on. This value is known as the table's primary key, and
+you use it to identify each row in the table. In the example, the ID column is the primary key for
+the address book shown in the previous example.
+
+Much of the work you do in web applications consists of reading information out of the database
+and displaying it on a page. You'll also often gather information from users and add it to a
+database, or you'll modify records that are already in the database. (We'll cover all of these
+operations in the course of this tutorial set.)
+
+Database work can be enormously complex and can require specialized knowledge. For this
+tutorial set, though, you have to understand only basic concepts, which will all be explained as
+you go.
+
+Creating a Database
+
+WebMatrix includes tools that make it easy to create (or define) a database and to create tables in
+the database. For this tutorial set, you'll create a database that has only one table in it — Movies.
+
+Open WebMatrix if you haven't already done so, and open the WebPagesMovies site that you
+created in the previous tutorial.
+
+In the left pane, click the Database workspace.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+40
+
+
+ The ribbon changes to show database-related tasks. In the ribbon, click New Database.
+
+WebMatrix creates a database (an .sdf file) that has the same name as your site —
+WebPagesMovies.sdf. (You won't do this here, but you can rename the file to anything you like, as
+long as it has an .sdf extension.)
+
+Creating a Table
+
+In the ribbon, click New Table. WebMatrix opens the table designer in a new tab. (If the New
+Table option isn't available, make sure that the new database is selected in the tree view on the
+left.)
+
+In the text box at the top (where the watermark says "Enter table name"), enter "Movies".
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+41
+
+
+
+
+ The pane underneath the table name is where you define individual columns. For the Movies
+table in this tutorial, you'll create only a few columns: ID, Title, Genre, and Year.
+
+In the Name box, enter "ID". Entering a value here activates all the controls for the new column.
+
+Tab to the Data Type list and choose int. This value specifies that the ID column will contain
+integer (number) data.
+
+Note We won't call it out any more here (much), but you can use standard Windows
+keyboard gestures to navigate in this grid. For example, you can tab between fields, you
+can just start typing in order to select an item in a list, and so on.
+
+Tab past the Default Value box (that is, leave it blank). Tab to the Is Primary Key check box and
+select it. This option tells the database that the ID column will contain the data that identifies
+individual rows. (That is, each row will have a unique value in the ID column that you can use to
+find that row.)
+
+Choose the Is Identity option. This option tells the database that it should automatically generate
+the next sequential number for each new row. (The Is Identity option works only if you've also
+selected the Is Primary Key option.)
+
+Click in the next grid row, or press Tab twice to finish the current row. Either gesture saves the
+current row and starts the next one. Notice that the Default Value column now says Null. (Null is
+the default value for the default value, so to speak.)
+
+When you've finished defining the new ID column, the designer will look like this illustration:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+42
+
+
+ To create the next column, click in the box in the Name column. Enter "Title" for the column and
+then select nvarchar for the Data Type value. The "var" part of nvarchar tells the database that
+the data for this column will be a string whose size might vary from record to record. (The "n"
+prefix represents "national," which indicates that the field can hold character data for any
+alphabet or writing system — that is, the field holds Unicode data.)
+
+When you choose nvarchar, another box appears where you can enter the maximum length for
+the field. Enter 50, on the assumption that no movie title that you'll work with in this tutorial will
+be longer than 50 characters.
+
+Skip Default Value and clear the Allow Nulls option. You don't want the database to allow any
+movies to be entered into the database that don't have a title.
+
+When you're done and move to the next row, the designer looks like this illustration:
+
+Repeat these steps to create a column named "Genre", except for the length, set it to just 30.
+
+Create another column named "Year." For the data type, choose nchar (not nvarchar) and set the
+length to 4. For the year, you're going to use a 4-digit number like "1995" or "2010", so you don't
+require a variable-sized column.
+
+Here's what the finished design looks like:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+43
+
+
+
+
+ Press Ctrl+S or click the Save button in the Quick Access toolbar. Close the database designer by
+closing the tab.
+
+Adding Some Example Data
+
+Later in this tutorial series you'll create a page where you can enter new movies in a form. For
+now, however, you can add some example data that you can then display on a page.
+
+In the Database workspace in WebMatrix, notice that there's a tree that shows you the .sdf file
+you created earlier. Open the node for your new .sdf file, and then open the Tables node.
+
+Right-click the Movies node and then choose Data. WebMatrix opens a grid where you can enter
+data for the Movies table:
+
+Click the Title column and enter "When Harry Met Sally". Move to the Genre column (you can use
+the Tab key) and enter "Romantic Comedy". Move to the Year column and enter "1989":
+
+Press Enter, and WebMatrix saves the new movie. Notice that the ID column has been filled in.
+
+Enter another movie (for example, "Gone with the Wind", "Drama", "1939"). The ID column is
+filled in again:
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+44
+
+
+
+
+
+ Enter a third movie (for example, "Ghostbusters", "Comedy"). As an experiment, leave the Year
+column blank and then press Enter. Because you unselected the Allow Nulls option, the database
+shows an error:
+
+Click OK to go back and fix the entry (the year for "Ghostbusters" is 1984), and then press Enter.
+
+Fill in several movies until you have 8 or so. (Entering 8 makes it easier to work with paging later.
+But if that's too many, enter just a few for now.) The actual data doesn't matter.
+
+If you entered all the movies without any errors, the ID values are sequential. If you tried to save
+an incomplete movie record, the ID numbers might not be sequential. If so, that's okay. The
+numbers don't have any inherent meaning, and the only thing that's important is that they're
+unique in the Movies table.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+45
+
+
+
+
+ Close the tab that contains the database designer.
+
+Now you can turn to displaying this data on a web page.
+
+Adding the Web Data Package
+
+You access data in ASP.NET Web Pages sites using helpers that are available in the WebData
+package. Because you used the Empty Site template in WebMatrix to create your Movies site, the
+WebData package isn't automatically included. Therefore, you have to add the package to your
+site.
+
+In the left pane, click the Files workspace.
+
+In the ribbon, click the Gallery button.
+
+The NuGet Gallery is displayed.
+
+In the search box, enter "Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages.WebData" to narrow down the list of
+packages that are displayed.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+46
+
+
+
+ Select the Microsoft ASP.NET Web Pages 2 Web Data package and then click Install.
+
+The Gallery page displays details about the package.
+
+Click Install. After you accept the license, WebMatrix installs the Web Data package.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+47
+
+
+
+ Now you're ready to display data on a page.
+
+Displaying Data in a Page by Using the WebGrid Helper
+
+To display data in a page, you're going to use the WebGrid helper. This helper produces a display in
+a grid or table (rows and columns). As you'll see, you'll be able refine the grid with formatting and
+other features.
+
+To run the grid, you'll have to write a few lines of code. These few lines will serve as a kind of
+pattern for almost all of the data access that you do in this tutorial.
+
+Note You actually have many options for displaying data on a page; the WebGrid helper is
+just one. We chose it for this tutorial because it's the easiest way to display data and
+because it's reasonably flexible. In the next tutorial set, you'll see how to use a more
+"manual" way to work with data in the page, which gives you more direct control over how
+to display the data.
+
+In the left pane in WebMatrix, click the Files workspace. In the tree view, select the root of the
+website.
+
+The new database you created is in the App_Data folder. If the folder didn't already exist,
+WebMatrix created it for your new database. (The folder might have existed if you'd previously
+installed helpers.)
+
+In the ribbon, click New. In the Choose a File Type box, choose CSHTML.
+
+In the Name box, name the new page "Movies.cshtml":
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+48
+
+ Click the OK button. WebMatrix opens a new file with some skeleton elements in it. First you'll
+write some code to go get the data from the database. Then you'll add markup to the page to
+actually display the data.
+
+Writing the Data Query Code
+
+At the top of the page, between the @{ and } characters, enter the following code. (Make sure
+that you enter this code between the opening and closing braces.)
+
+var db = Database.Open("WebPagesMovies");
+var selectedData = db.Query("SELECT * FROM Movies");
+var grid = new WebGrid(source: selectedData);
+
+The first line opens the database that you created earlier, which is always the first step before
+doing something with the database. You tell the Database.Open method name of the database to
+open. Notice that you don't include .sdf in the name. The Open method assumes that it's looking
+for an .sdf file (that is, WebPagesMovies.sdf) and that the .sdf file is in the App_Data folder.
+(Earlier we noted that the App_Data folder is reserved; this scenario is one of the places where
+ASP.NET makes assumptions about that name.)
+
+When the database is opened, a reference to it is put into the variable named db. (Which could be
+named anything.) The db variable is how you'll end up interacting with the database.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+49
+
+
+ The second line actually fetches the database data by using the Query method. Notice how this
+code works: the db variable has a reference to the opened database, and you invoke the Query
+method by using the db variable (db.Query).
+
+Thequery itself is a SQL Select statement. (For a little background about SQL, see the explanation
+later.) In the statement, Movies identifies the table to query. The * character specifies that the
+query should return all the columns from the table. (You could also list columns individually,
+separated by commas.)
+
+The results of the query, if any, are returned and made available in the selectedData variable.
+Again, the variable could be named anything.
+
+Finally, the third line tells ASP.NET that you want to use an instance of the WebGrid helper. You
+create (instantiate) the helper object by using the new keyword and pass it the query results via
+the selectedData variable. The new WebGrid object, along with the results of the database query,
+are made available in the grid variable. You'll need that result in a moment to actually display the
+data in the page.
+
+At this stage, the database has been opened, you've gotten the data you want, and you've
+prepared the WebGrid helper with that data. Next is to create the markup in the page.
+
+Structured Query Language (SQL)
+
+SQL is a language that's used in most relational databases for managing data in a database. It
+includes commands that let you retrieve data and update it, and that let you create, modify, and
+manage data in database tables. SQL is different than a programming language (like C#). With
+SQL, you tell the database what you want, and it's the database's job to figure out how to get the
+data or perform the task. Here are examples of some SQL commands and what they do:
+
+Select * From Movies
+
+SELECT ID, Name, Price FROM Product WHERE Price > 10.00 ORDER BY Name
+
+The first Select statement gets all the columns (specified by *) from the Movies table.
+
+The second Select statement fetches the ID, Name, and Price columns from records in the
+Product table whose Price column value is more than 10. The command returns the results in
+alphabetical order based on the values of the Name column. If no records match the price criteria,
+the command returns an empty set.
+
+INSERT INTO Product (Name, Description, Price) VALUES ('Croissant', 'A flaky delight',
+1.99)
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+50
+
+ This command inserts a new record into the Product table, setting the Name column to
+"Croissant", the Description column to "A flaky delight", and the price to 1.99.
+
+Notice that when you're specifying a non-numeric value, the value is enclosed in single quotation
+marks (not double quotation marks, as in C#). You use these quotation marks around text or date
+values, but not around numbers.
+
+DELETE FROM Product WHERE ExpirationDate < '01/01/2008'
+
+This command deletes records in the Product table whose expiration date column is earlier than
+January 1, 2008. (The command assumes that the Product table has such a column, of course.)
+The date is entered here in MM/DD/YYYY format, but it should be entered in the format that's
+used for your locale.
+
+The Insert and Delete commands don’t return result sets. Instead, they return a number that
+tells you how many records were affected by the command.
+
+For some of these operations (like inserting and deleting records), the process that's requesting
+the operation has to have appropriate permissions in the database. That's why for production
+databases you often have to supply a user name and password when you connect to the
+database.
+
+There are dozens of SQL commands, but they all follow a pattern like the commands you see
+here. You can use SQL commands to create database tables, count the number of records in a
+table, calculate prices, and perform many more operations.
+
+Adding Markup to Display the Data
+
+Inside the element, set contents of the Movies
+
+ @grid.GetHtml()
+
+
+That's it. The grid variable is the value you created when you created the WebGrid object in code
+earlier.
+
+Introducing ASP.NET Web Pages 2
+
+Tutorial 3: Displaying Data
+
+51
+
+ In the WebMatrix tree view, right-click the page and select Launch in browser.You'll see
+something like this page:
+
+(Remember that the URL that you see in the browser might use a different port number than
+what you see in these screenshots — instead of locahost:56011, you'll see localhost followed by a
+different number.)
+
+Click a column heading link to sort by that column. Being able to sort by clicking a heading is a
+feature that's built into the WebGrid helper.
+
+The GetHtml method, as its name suggests, generates markup that displays the data. By default,
+the GetHtml method generates an HTML